The Gender Wage Gap in Africa: is it really equal pay for equal work?

According to a study done by Odipo Dev (A cutting edge data science firm based in Nairobi), the average working man in Kenya earns about Ksh32,400 ( about $ 324 ) a month and at the same time the average working woman makes about Ksh 20,925 (about $209) a month for the same amount of work.

The earnings ratio between men and women in Kenya isabout 10:8.

Similar trends are being realised throughout the world and we’ve been looking at the reasons why the gender-wage gap is persisting despite the active campaigns to solve it. Citi group is the first company to openly publish their earning’s report which reveals that women there earn about 29 per cent less than men.

Gender Roles & their implications:

Historically, men have been the breadwinners in their respective households, which means that women had to be the homemakers and nurturers. The 19th Century saw the first mass employment of women, however, the quality of work and level of pay were still rather low. World War Two is often falsely identified as the first time that women received mass employment, but by them, about a quarter of American women worked outside the home. What changed after world war two was the quality of work and, the now steadily rising, pay. They got office jobs such as secretaries and were hired for a few industrial jobs which were seen as feminine for example sewing. However, around 1947, women were allowed to go to university and this changed the playing field for them.

The times still caught up to most of them as they had to leave work the moment they had children or even got married. As time went on provision were made to give more women time off as a kind of leave to briefly take care of their children however it wasn’t fully implemented in the law until the 1970’s when many European countries in the law. It was cited as a provision that is prehealth both mother and child. During such leaves, mothers would tend to their children and ensure that they were well taken care of. As time went on the duration of maternity leaves was extended from a month to three and some places to 6 months and now in United Kingdom women can access up to 52 weeks (1 year) of paid leave.

However wonderful this progressive law was it ended up triggering the beginning if thee gender-pay rift. As men went on working and women were tending to the children men got more chances to learn and improve their skills and by the time the women were resuming work they were not at par anymore with their male colleagues.

Resuming work meant playing catch up. Furthermore, as time goes on even after the women resume work a lot more is expected from the women at the home front. The women are expected to deal with their children’s sick days, or attend the school plays and all the while their male counterparts are focusing on work and building a better rapport with the company’s management team and when it’s time to look for staff to promote more often than not they choose the employee that they are more familiar with.

What others are doing to repair this gap?

Two countries Rwanda and Iceland have nearly closed their gender pay gaps.

But Rwanda’s story is one of great misfortune. In the early 1990’there were inter-tribal wars that lasted about 3 months, over the course of which 800,000 people died majorities of which were men. This shifted the gender balance of the Rwandese population was about60 to 70 per cent female. Most of the working men had either passed away or immigrated and the nation felt the employee vacuum across their organizations, enterprises and their government. In an attempt to ensure their survival and that of their families, women rose to the occasion and filled gaps that were previously unexpected for the average Rwandese woman. They joined the police and military in huge numbers and it wasn’t long before there were female Mayors and Governors.

The Rwandese government realised that in order to rebuild Rwanda, they needed the help of women. And so the government passed a new constitution where they instituted an equal rights bill between men and women and went a step further to pass another bill which states that at least 30% of positions have to be filled by women across all levels of government.

Today at least 68% of the seats in Rwanda’s national parliament are held by women, the highest of any national parliament in the world. According to the national labour participation statistics, women have so far had 88 per cent participation, which has beaten the 87 per cent participation shown by the men. Because of this Rwanda has successfully narrowed their gender wealth gap, meaning that the average woman’s pay is at about 86 cents to the man’s dollar.

“We have seen that freeing the potential of women is the fastest multiplier that we have in terms of our growth.” Said Valentine Rugwabiza, Rwanda’s Ambassador the UN in a documentary covering the wealth gap in Rwanda. “It is such an accelerator when it comes to eradicating poverty.''

Rwanda’s unfortunate circumstances coupled with a set of progressive laws have served to narrow the wage gap. For most other countries, the first step would be to pass a set of similar laws that reserve government seats for women and make provisions for equal rights. This would be a huge step but it is only a small part of the bigger puzzle. To truly make an impact, women need to involve men in their fight. Some progressive European governments have set laws that allow for paternity leaves as well and made it a ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ type of case and more men began to opt to take the leave. Men also have to want to be there for some of the school plays and doctor’s visits as well. In countries where this is common practice, for example, Iceland, women earn about 91 cents for every dollar that a man earns.◊